AWI Quarterly » 2009 Summer

Bats in the eastern U.S. are now facing what could be their biggest challenge, with hundreds of thousands reported dead by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and many species heading toward extinction.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, and a West Virginia local conservationist filed a complaint against Beech Ridge Energy and its parent company in June, contending that their massive industrial wind power facility being built in Greenbrier County, W.Va., will unlawfully injure and kill the endangered Indiana bats who live near the project site.

In an exciting new development, the North Carolina Natural Hog Growers Association (NCNHGA) and Fudge Family Farms have begun requiring all of their member farms to be accredited by the Animal Welfare Approved program, whose standards for pigs necessitate pasture access and prohibit crates and tail-docking.

A group of five pygmy killer whales appeared in the shallow waters off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kihei in early May - a worrisome and rare sight, since the species’ habitat is far offshore in deep waters.